Documentation/git-tag.txt

   1 git-tag(1)
   2 ==========
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-tag - Create, list, delete or verify a tag object signed with GPG
   7
   8
   9 SYNOPSIS
  10 --------
  11 [verse]
  12 'git tag' [-a | -s | -u <key-id>] [-f] [-m <msg> | -F <file>]
  13         <tagname> [<commit> | <object>]
  14 'git tag' -d <tagname>...
  15 'git tag' [-n[<num>]] -l [--contains <commit>] [<pattern>...]
  16 'git tag' -v <tagname>...
  17
  18 DESCRIPTION
  19 -----------
  20
  21 Add a tag reference in `.git/refs/tags/`, unless `-d/-l/-v` is given
  22 to delete, list or verify tags.
  23
  24 Unless `-f` is given, the tag to be created must not yet exist in the
  25 `.git/refs/tags/` directory.
  26
  27 If one of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <key-id>` is passed, the command
  28 creates a 'tag' object, and requires a tag message.  Unless
  29 `-m <msg>` or `-F <file>` is given, an editor is started for the user to type
  30 in the tag message.
  31
  32 If `-m <msg>` or `-F <file>` is given and `-a`, `-s`, and `-u <key-id>`
  33 are absent, `-a` is implied.
  34
  35 Otherwise just a tag reference for the SHA1 object name of the commit object is
  36 created (i.e. a lightweight tag).
  37
  38 A GnuPG signed tag object will be created when `-s` or `-u
  39 <key-id>` is used.  When `-u <key-id>` is not used, the
  40 committer identity for the current user is used to find the
  41 GnuPG key for signing.  The configuration variable `gpg.program`
  42 is used to specify custom GnuPG binary.
  43
  44
  45 OPTIONS
  46 -------
  47 -a::
  48 --annotate::
  49         Make an unsigned, annotated tag object
  50
  51 -s::
  52 --sign::
  53         Make a GPG-signed tag, using the default e-mail address's key.
  54
  55 -u <key-id>::
  56 --local-user=<key-id>::
  57         Make a GPG-signed tag, using the given key.
  58
  59 -f::
  60 --force::
  61         Replace an existing tag with the given name (instead of failing)
  62
  63 -d::
  64 --delete::
  65         Delete existing tags with the given names.
  66
  67 -v::
  68 --verify::
  69         Verify the gpg signature of the given tag names.
  70
  71 -n<num>::
  72         <num> specifies how many lines from the annotation, if any,
  73         are printed when using -l.
  74         The default is not to print any annotation lines.
  75         If no number is given to `-n`, only the first line is printed.
  76         If the tag is not annotated, the commit message is displayed instead.
  77
  78 -l <pattern>::
  79 --list <pattern>::
  80         List tags with names that match the given pattern (or all if no
  81         pattern is given).  Running "git tag" without arguments also
  82         lists all tags. The pattern is a shell wildcard (i.e., matched
  83         using fnmatch(3)).  Multiple patterns may be given; if any of
  84         them matches, the tag is shown.
  85
  86 --contains <commit>::
  87         Only list tags which contain the specified commit.
  88
  89 -m <msg>::
  90 --message=<msg>::
  91         Use the given tag message (instead of prompting).
  92         If multiple `-m` options are given, their values are
  93         concatenated as separate paragraphs.
  94         Implies `-a` if none of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <key-id>`
  95         is given.
  96
  97 -F <file>::
  98 --file=<file>::
  99         Take the tag message from the given file.  Use '-' to
 100         read the message from the standard input.
 101         Implies `-a` if none of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <key-id>`
 102         is given.
 103
 104 --cleanup=<mode>::
 105         This option sets how the tag message is cleaned up.
 106         The  '<mode>' can be one of 'verbatim', 'whitespace' and 'strip'.  The
 107         'strip' mode is default. The 'verbatim' mode does not change message at
 108         all, 'whitespace' removes just leading/trailing whitespace lines and
 109         'strip' removes both whitespace and commentary.
 110
 111 <tagname>::
 112         The name of the tag to create, delete, or describe.
 113         The new tag name must pass all checks defined by
 114         linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1].  Some of these checks
 115         may restrict the characters allowed in a tag name.
 116
 117 CONFIGURATION
 118 -------------
 119 By default, 'git tag' in sign-with-default mode (-s) will use your
 120 committer identity (of the form "Your Name <your@email.address>") to
 121 find a key.  If you want to use a different default key, you can specify
 122 it in the repository configuration as follows:
 123
 124 -------------------------------------
 125 [user]
 126     signingkey = <gpg-key-id>
 127 -------------------------------------
 128
 129
 130 DISCUSSION
 131 ----------
 132
 133 On Re-tagging
 134 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 135
 136 What should you do when you tag a wrong commit and you would
 137 want to re-tag?
 138
 139 If you never pushed anything out, just re-tag it. Use "-f" to
 140 replace the old one. And you're done.
 141
 142 But if you have pushed things out (or others could just read
 143 your repository directly), then others will have already seen
 144 the old tag. In that case you can do one of two things:
 145
 146 . The sane thing.
 147 Just admit you screwed up, and use a different name. Others have
 148 already seen one tag-name, and if you keep the same name, you
 149 may be in the situation that two people both have "version X",
 150 but they actually have 'different' "X"'s.  So just call it "X.1"
 151 and be done with it.
 152
 153 . The insane thing.
 154 You really want to call the new version "X" too, 'even though'
 155 others have already seen the old one. So just use 'git tag -f'
 156 again, as if you hadn't already published the old one.
 157
 158 However, Git does *not* (and it should not) change tags behind
 159 users back. So if somebody already got the old tag, doing a
 160 'git pull' on your tree shouldn't just make them overwrite the old
 161 one.
 162
 163 If somebody got a release tag from you, you cannot just change
 164 the tag for them by updating your own one. This is a big
 165 security issue, in that people MUST be able to trust their
 166 tag-names.  If you really want to do the insane thing, you need
 167 to just fess up to it, and tell people that you messed up. You
 168 can do that by making a very public announcement saying:
 169
 170 ------------
 171 Ok, I messed up, and I pushed out an earlier version tagged as X. I
 172 then fixed something, and retagged the *fixed* tree as X again.
 173
 174 If you got the wrong tag, and want the new one, please delete
 175 the old one and fetch the new one by doing:
 176
 177         git tag -d X
 178         git fetch origin tag X
 179
 180 to get my updated tag.
 181
 182 You can test which tag you have by doing
 183
 184         git rev-parse X
 185
 186 which should return 0123456789abcdef.. if you have the new version.
 187
 188 Sorry for the inconvenience.
 189 ------------
 190
 191 Does this seem a bit complicated?  It *should* be. There is no
 192 way that it would be correct to just "fix" it automatically.
 193 People need to know that their tags might have been changed.
 194
 195
 196 On Automatic following
 197 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 198
 199 If you are following somebody else's tree, you are most likely
 200 using remote-tracking branches (`refs/heads/origin` in traditional
 201 layout, or `refs/remotes/origin/master` in the separate-remote
 202 layout).  You usually want the tags from the other end.
 203
 204 On the other hand, if you are fetching because you would want a
 205 one-shot merge from somebody else, you typically do not want to
 206 get tags from there.  This happens more often for people near
 207 the toplevel but not limited to them.  Mere mortals when pulling
 208 from each other do not necessarily want to automatically get
 209 private anchor point tags from the other person.
 210
 211 Often, "please pull" messages on the mailing list just provide
 212 two pieces of information: a repo URL and a branch name; this
 213 is designed to be easily cut&pasted at the end of a 'git fetch'
 214 command line:
 215
 216 ------------
 217 Linus, please pull from
 218
 219         git://git..../proj.git master
 220
 221 to get the following updates...
 222 ------------
 223
 224 becomes:
 225
 226 ------------
 227 $ git pull git://git..../proj.git master
 228 ------------
 229
 230 In such a case, you do not want to automatically follow the other
 231 person's tags.
 232
 233 One important aspect of git is its distributed nature, which
 234 largely means there is no inherent "upstream" or
 235 "downstream" in the system.  On the face of it, the above
 236 example might seem to indicate that the tag namespace is owned
 237 by the upper echelon of people and that tags only flow downwards, but
 238 that is not the case.  It only shows that the usage pattern
 239 determines who are interested in whose tags.
 240
 241 A one-shot pull is a sign that a commit history is now crossing
 242 the boundary between one circle of people (e.g. "people who are
 243 primarily interested in the networking part of the kernel") who may
 244 have their own set of tags (e.g. "this is the third release
 245 candidate from the networking group to be proposed for general
 246 consumption with 2.6.21 release") to another circle of people
 247 (e.g. "people who integrate various subsystem improvements").
 248 The latter are usually not interested in the detailed tags used
 249 internally in the former group (that is what "internal" means).
 250 That is why it is desirable not to follow tags automatically in
 251 this case.
 252
 253 It may well be that among networking people, they may want to
 254 exchange the tags internal to their group, but in that workflow
 255 they are most likely tracking each other's progress by
 256 having remote-tracking branches.  Again, the heuristic to automatically
 257 follow such tags is a good thing.
 258
 259
 260 On Backdating Tags
 261 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 262
 263 If you have imported some changes from another VCS and would like
 264 to add tags for major releases of your work, it is useful to be able
 265 to specify the date to embed inside of the tag object; such data in
 266 the tag object affects, for example, the ordering of tags in the
 267 gitweb interface.
 268
 269 To set the date used in future tag objects, set the environment
 270 variable GIT_COMMITTER_DATE (see the later discussion of possible
 271 values; the most common form is "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM").
 272
 273 For example:
 274
 275 ------------
 276 $ GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="2006-10-02 10:31" git tag -s v1.0.1
 277 ------------
 278
 279 include::date-formats.txt[]
 280
 281 SEE ALSO
 282 --------
 283 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1].
 284
 285 GIT
 286 ---
 287 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite